Čau!
Monday we went to Mikulov. We saw a castle and went on probably one of the prettiest hikes I have ever been on. There were fall leaves and a misty rain. The sunshine was peaking through the clouds. When we got to the top, we had a view of the whole city. You could look out and see the castle, the red roofs, the vineyards and the fields. It was absolutely stunning! There was a church at the top too. We also went to dinner with an investigator from Liberec and helped her find the train station.
Tuesday we had correlation with a member. Then we did companion study and 12 week. Afterwards we went to Zuska and Peter's house for lunch. They made shepherds pie and we did the dishes and shared the talk "A summer with great aunt rose" by Elder Uchdorf. Then we went back to the church and did personal study. We taught our English class and afterwards gave a thought from the my foundations book. We had a really good discussion and the students liked it. After class, one student stayed behind and asked me some more questions about the plan of salvation and the 3 kingdoms. I really enjoyed talking to him and teaching him. At first it was a little like combating religions and I didn't like that so I said a quick prayer in my heart to invite the spirit. When the spirit came, the teaching environment totally changed and his heart was softened. The spirit does wonders! Then we went home and did language study.
Wednesday we did personal study and then went and taught Tino the plan of salvation with the Elders. Then we did a language study with him and soon his whole family showed up. His dad, then his mom came home from work, then his brother came downstairs, then his grandma and grandpa came, and then his aunt and uncle. So they basically had a big family reunion. They fed us lunch and we celebrated the aunt's birthday and had cake with them. It was so much fun. They honestly feel like my second family. About half of them are members. The grandma also invited us over for lunch sometime, so we are going to set that up with her. Then we had district council. Afterwards, we went to institute and a YSA activity. They were watching a movie for the YSA activity, so we called our mission President and asked if we could stay and he said yes. So, we got to watch a movie with the YSA and our investigators.
Thursday we did some group finding and created a jar with random acts of service we came up with. We went around asking people to pick one and to do that service activity. We ended up talking to an entire football team and some cheerleaders. They gave us free pizza and we gave them acts of service. It was a win, win. :) Then we ran into Simone who is a member and he invited us to get hot chocolate with him which was perfect because it was beginning to rain. Afterwards, we did our studies and then went over to dinner at the Ferrell's house. We had 2 friends of the church and a returning member there. I had my companions take the lead in the spiritual discussion about the restoration and they did a good job.
Friday we went out to an animal shelter to do some service. We helped clean all the places where they keep the cats. They have about 150 animals there. Including dogs, cats, chickens, turtles, cows, pigs, and sheep. Then we went to dinner with Kuba and afterwards to the relief society activity. We did zumba and brought Nikola with us.
Saturday we went to the church and taught our czech class. We started out with a good number of people at the beginning of the transfer, but now we are few in numbers. After the class, we had a lesson with Nikola. It has been fun to watch her go from not believing to beginning to believe in God, pray, and read in the Book of Mormon. She spends a lot of time with us. We probably see her 4 or 5 times a week at different activities. She is awesome. Then we went over to the De Vries house and Zuska taught us how to make Cukrovi and Pernik (Christmas cookies and gingerbread cookies)! Then we came home and did our studies.
Sunday we had a wonderful sacrament meeting. Guess who was there?! My Grandma! Yep, I have a Grandma on the mission. Babička Pohořelická. She is my last mission President's mom. She came with her son and daughter in law to church. I loved seeing all of them from Třebíč, which was my first area. It was so fun to actually be able to have a conversation with them. My Czech has improved a lot since I started my mission. My Grandma, Babička Pohořelická told me that she is coming to America in April for our mission reunion! So that will be so much fun! We had two investigators at church too. Those were the highlights of Sunday.
Today we went to some Christmas markets. They will be lighting up all the Christmas trees on all the town squares in the Czech Republic this week on December 1st, so I'm looking forward to that!
Also, this week is Thanksgiving... so HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE! I'm so grateful for all of you! I'm grateful for the opportunity to serve a mission and meet amazing people. I'm grateful for beautiful sunsets and sunrises. I'm grateful for the stars that dance through the night sky. I'm grateful that I can smell and touch the world around me. I'm grateful for a healthy body. And most of all, I'm grateful for my amazing family! I know that as we express our gratitude we will be happier. We will better be able to recognize the Lord's hand in our lives and the blessings he has given us. So tell your family what you are grateful for this week!
I love you all! Have a wonderful week!
S laskou,
